Welcome to the City
by Cryptic Metaphor
Summary: The Akatsuki and the Espada have mysteriously appeared in the modern world. OCx?
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer- I do not own Naruto or Bleach, I just make stories. **

**Characters****- The Akatsuki and Espada. A crossover fan fiction.**

Welcome to the city Opening

In the lands where ninjas roam, the great ninja war is over and many ninjas live on with their lives. The Akatsuki are nowhere to be found, though they are still alive. Everything seems quiet, perhaps the Akatsuki have gone somewhere else to terrorize and strike fear into people's hearts.

Soul Society has been quiet lately as well; the Arrancar are nowhere to be found, including the Espada. Things have settled down here with peace dominating everyone's days. The shinigami still fight to cleanse the hollows but the stronger ones seem to be dormant nowadays.

In both these lands, the most evil of the evil and the most fearsome of people have been taken by mysterious means. Both the Akatsuki and the Espada were captured and taken to a foreign place, often known as a city. The Akatsuki and Espada have been scattered across this world. Odd people roam these streets, people who the Akatsuki and the Espada have never seen before. Men, women, and children who live in this city think the same about these strange visitors. In our eyes, these people are normal.

Then, there is one person, a girl of mysterious origin, who finds herself wrapped up with these strange people who seemed to come from some sort of distant land, at least, nowhere near here this city. Although, she can't be called normal by any means.

_Three cultures clash together in the modern world_.

**A note from me, the author~** **Ah, hello! I hope that you'll enjoy this fan fiction. This is my first solo so it may be flawed but please review often and tell me what you think. Criticism is encouraged; it can help me get better.**

**As far as how often chapters will come out, I'm not quite sure. I'm shooting for at least one per month, maybe even one per week**.


	2. Strangers

**DISCLAIMER****- I own neither Bleach nor Naruto and their characters. I only own my OC and the other random city-goes**.

**Chapter 1 **

A girl, around the age of twenty, sat at the top of one of the apartment buildings that could be found scattered all over the town. She gazed up at the stars, preferring to look up at them then to look down at the scum of the earth. She wasn't in the best area in the town; actually it would be runner up for the worst possible place you could be caught alone in. Yet, there she was, completely absorbed in her stargazing while she sat alone. Her legs dangled off the side of the tall building, slightly swaying back and forth. Her bright blue eyes widened when she saw a shooting star racing across the sky. In her mind, she imagined the star as some sort of businessman who was late to work or something as if that were the reason why it was streaking across the sky.

She sighed softly to herself and looked away from the stars because they were now beginning to remind her of what all may be going on around her. It was then that she finally began to hear the sounds of a struggle below her feet. Out of curiosity, she leaned forward to peer over the edge of the apartment complex to see what was going on but she hesitated for a moment, knowing full well about what could happen if she were to see something someone didn't want her to see. Then again, she couldn't care less.

What she saw when she looked down at the scene below her didn't really surprise her. Three goons, all armed with guns pointed at a peculiar-looking man with spiky blue hair and odd tattoos on his face, were demanding something of the man. She strained herself to hear what they were saying.

One of the men, she'd decided to nickname him Baldy because of the obvious lack of hair on his head, called out to the man. "If you want to live, lay down anything valuable you have and don't move a muscle."

Even from where she sat way up here, she could see that the man had a somewhat amused look on his face. "Well, which is it? Lay down what I have or stand still? I can't do them both at the same time." She stifled a giggle.

The closest to the blue-haired guy, nicknamed Blondie in her mind, scowled at him. "Enough playing, either do what we say, or we kill you!" It was then that Blondie, obviously lacking in wits, decided to attempt at hitting the man over the head with his gun.

It never even made it a few inches before the barrel of the gun was stalled by the mysterious man's outstretched hand. Then she watched as, in one fluid movement, he yanked it right out of the Blondie's hands, cracked him hard over the head with his own gun, and watched with a smile as he fell to the ground unconscious.

She watched, unable to look away from the scuffle, as the two other thieves, caught up in their anger at the man's actions, began to fire shots at him. She expected to see his bleeding body lying on the ground in the alleyway but for some reason, he wasn't there any longer. Instead, he now stood behind the two men with a knife, stolen from one of the thieves own pocket, stained crimson in his hand. The two fell, dead before they even hit the ground.

The blue-haired man's, whoever he was, speed and accuracy amazed her. Was he an assassin, like herself? Probably not, considering the fact that the man now lingered down below as if unsure what he should do now. Unsure of where he was. She sighed to herself, not one to do anyone other than herself or one of her very few friends a favor, and decided to at least help the guy out.

She slid down a pipe leading from the ceiling of the apartment complex all the way down to the ground below, holding onto it easily with her black gloves making sure she felt no pain. She landed on both feet lightly as if she'd done this a hundred times before. The man almost seemed startled at her sudden appearance. Not that she was the one that was rather out of place. Now that she saw him up close, she noticed that he wore a white outfit with some black and that his chest was exposed allowing her eyes full access to his sculpted abs. That and, the man had some sort of mask on his face, held in place by god-knows-what. The two of them looked like yin and yang, him dressed in mostly white and her wearing one of her many black outfits. She wore simple black skinny jeans with a plain red T-shirt hidden under a black jacket with buttons adorning the front.

But his attire wasn't what startled her now that he was in full view; it was the gaping hole in his stomach. There wasn't any blood coming from it so it wasn't a wound from something but how could someone possible live with a chunk of them missing?

His words drew her from her thoughts. "Who the hell are you?"

She brushed a few strands of her rebelling hair from her eyes, the purple streaks mixed into it seeming to gleam in the moonlight. "Hey, I could ask you the same thing!" He seemed to shut up at that and she hesitated before answering anyway. "People call me the Viper." She'd decided to give him her assassin name instead of her actual name. It would most likely be much safer that way.

The blue-haired man seemed to consider this. "Well then Viper, my name is Grimmjow." This struck her as a fitting name for the man because he was certainly odd enough for it.

She then went over to where the two dead guys lay and searched their bodies for anything useful. When he looked at her funny she gestured for him to check the other one. "They aren't going to need it anymore where they're going you may as well." She paused, "And you may want to finish him off and leave that knife behind. Not good to leave survivors." She saw him shrug as he silently agreed with her, though he didn't quite understand what she meant by where they're going. She found about a hundred dollars between the two that she checked and put the cash in her pocket. She didn't know if or what Grimmjow found because if he'd found anything useful it was most likely in his pockets by now.

Then she remembered what she'd even come down here to do. She reached out and grabbed his arm in her left hand and turned as if she were actually about to drag him away with her. "Okay Grimmjow, we need to get out of this area as fast as possible. The police will probably come soon because of those idiots making all that noise."

He seemed to consider this bit of information for a moment before deciding to go with her. From the looks of him, she had no doubt that she knew the area much better than him.

She took him out of the alleyway and into the street before turning down another alleyway two buildings down. She then led him down a rather narrow passageway behind a store advertising weapons carrying the two farther away from where the three dead men lay still. The man didn't seem to have any trouble in keeping up with her long strides and she'd let go of his arm some time ago. They stopped walking after a while when she deemed it safe enough, even though they could still hear sirens off in the distance.

She turned around to see him standing there expectantly, as if she were going to lead him to a nice warm bed and a full plate of food. As if she had the time to do so. "This is where I leave you… Good luck." She turned to leave the alleyway that they now stood in but he reached out and took hold of her arm turning her back around to face him again.

"Hey, wait. Can you at least tell me where I am?" His expression seemed innocent enough and he obviously was confused as to his location. Of course, she had no idea just how little he knew of where he was and why he was here. How could she possible know that he was here from a place called Hueco Mundo? All she knew was that he was defiantly not from around this area.

"Well, you're in a large town called Samarkand. As you may already have noticed, it's not the safest place to be alone at night. I suggest you go find somewhere to sleep or something. I have to go… work." She wasn't lying, she'd lost track of time due to this guy but she still had to go do a job for some wealthy man. At least she'd gotten a hundred bucks out of helping this dude, though.

With that, the Viper turned and left the confused man still standing in the alleyway.

Khen walked along in silence as she made her way back to her apartment in the relative darkness. The streetlights did their job well even though that didn't stop people from committing crimes. The police officers that patrol this area or live around here were all lazy and corrupt so if they aren't eating donuts, they were taking bribes from drug dealers and the like.

Her long bleached-blonde hair that had purple and black streaks in it was tied up in two somewhat sloppy ponytails. She had a tattoo of a small black heart just below her left eye. Her black boots didn't make any noise as she walked along, all the while collecting strange looks from people as she passed because it was appear as though a person can't just walk by without being gawked at.

In order to try and take her mind off of all the people she passed, she distracted herself with the thought of the payment she'd receive after the night is over. Her respite was short-lived though because an odd-looking man wearing a cloak pulled her from her thoughts. The cloak itself was weird enough, what with the black background with red clouds on it, but the fact that the man wearing it had silver hair and was carrying around a red three-bladed scythe as it were a perfectly normal thing to do that made her wonder if he was messed up in the head. Of course, this stranger just had to walk up to Khen, of all people, and ask her what city this was. She replied with a simple one-word answer, "Samarkand," without even stopping to give the man a chance to continue their little conversation.

The man didn't seem to take the hint because he picked up his pace to catch up with her long strides. "Oh, thanks… Where is that?" She looked over at him as if he were someone who'd just introduced himself and then asked his own name. It would seem as though there are some interesting people out tonight, without even knowing where they are.

"Samarkand is a city in America." She stopped walking because she'd arrived at her apartment building, not quite sure that she should go in or not because he may end up following her in. He seemed like the type of guy that may do that.

The information didn't seem to help him very much but he thanked her again before walking off. She watched him walk away for a moment wondering if he were insane before turning on her heel and heading into her apartment building. He nodded a 'hello' to the man behind the counter who replied by holding up a hand in greetings. Khen took the stairs, not fond of elevators, up to the third floor and continued down a dimly-lit corridor before stopping in front of a door that had a constant 'Do Not Disturb' sign handing from the handle. She took out her keys and opened the door before going inside quickly to avoid the loud men she could hear coming from a little ways down another hallway that led to this one. A person could only take but so many chances in a city such as this. Doing so could lead to an early grave.

She sat on her little bed and thought to herself about the events of tonight. She'd met two curious individuals who had piqued her interest, even if only slightly. It made her wonder who they were, what they did, where they were going and what they were doing and it bothered her to not know. She shook her head to herself and took down her hair, putting the hair bows around her wrist as she glanced over at her alarm clock that proudly displayed the current time. It was 3:37. It didn't surprise her at all that it was so late, not did it matter to her. All that matters right now is that she get at least a few hours of sleep before her meeting with the rich gentleman who'd wanted someone dead at 9:45.

Khen set her alarm for 8:30 so that she'd have plenty of time to get ready. She then went into the small bathroom to take a shower before she would go to bed.


	3. Annoyance

**Disclaimer- I do not own Naruto of Bleach, I just own this story and my OC's. **

**I also do not own the song mentioned.**

Chapter 2 - Annoyance

Khen woke up the next morning when her alarm clock began to blare loudly in her ear. She recognized the song that was currently playing on her favorite radio station as Ain't no Rest for the Wicked by Cage the Elephant. She sat up in her bed and turned off the radio before swinging her legs around to meet the floor and stand up. She brushed a few strands of her multi-colored hair from her face and went to the bathroom.

After using the bathroom once, brushing her teeth, fixing her hair up into her two ponytails and inserting a strip of spiked wire into each so that anyone who grabbed her by her hair would get a nasty surprise, and changing into a simple black and purple striped sweater dress with short sleeves. She collected her mandatory weapons and strapped a knife to the area just below her neck behind her hidden under her clothes, strapped another one to the inside of her left calf, and another to the area covered by the right sleeve of her dress. Even though it wasn't a long-sleeved dress, the sleeves still came down to around her elbow, which was enough to conceal her weapon. Last was her sword, which was long and skinny, much like the stylized katanas of Japan that she couldn't conceal. She decided to go ahead and take it anyway in a case that would allow her to wear it over her shoulder and around under her arm on the opposite side of her. The case it was in was just a sleek black.

She had no doubt that she'd get quite a few stares just for her weapon but it was worth the risk considering she could be walking into a situation that may not turn out to be friendly. People had tried to kill her before when she collected the money due for her job and she had no doubts that it would happen again.

When she exited her apartment building, the man at the desk simply watched her as she left, used to the odd happenings around here. She knew for a fact that the man had a concealed rifle under the counter. She herself preferred to use blades and maybe the occasional gun or other ranger weapon, used to the somewhat old-fashioned way of fighting.

While on her way to the place where she'd collect her payment, she saw a familiar sight across the street. She watched a girl with blue hair and an origami flower in her hair walk in the opposite direction as her who just happened to be wearing the same sort of cloak as the guy she'd met outside her apartment earlier this very same morning.

She began to wonder if maybe the reason behind their odd appearances was that they were cosplaying for something. It would explain away the fact that they didn't seem to know where they were because they could be traveling to one of those conventions. It would also explain the reason behind the similarity between the guy with the scythe and the girl with the blue hair's outfits.

She shook her head and continued walking. It didn't really matter. She'd probably never see them again.

~~~~~~~-TS-~~~~~~~

Her fingers drummed against her leg as she walked back to her apartment, her eyes scanning the area around her. One could not trust that while carrying a briefcase full of money, or a briefcase in general, that someone in this place might try to steal it.

The Viper had, once again, claimed another victim and received her payment for it without even having to threaten the guy to give it to her, it would seem that today might not be so bad after all. The man didn't seem to have done anything quite like this before because he'd given her a briefcase instead of something simpler and less attention seeking like a backpack of some sort. Besides, what the heck was she supposed to do with the briefcase? She may be able to sell it or something after she empties it.

She suspected that somewhere, off in the distance, someone was just now stumbling over the corpse she'd so kindly left with her signature 'V' on it. Her symbol, of course, consists of a snake in the shape of a V, hence her name. When she was a kid, she's acquired the sort of nickname for her attitude that had put many other kids in the nurse's office and landed her in the principal's. She chuckled to herself at the memory.

Then, a man walked out of the shadows and walked up next to her. "Enjoying yourself?" He asked. When she examined his face to figure out if he were friend or foe, she recognized him as a fellow 'worker.' He was a good-looking guy and god only knows if he liked her or not but she didn't like to confuse work with play.

"Just reminiscing about the past and trying not to get robbed." She smiled up at the man. He was tall, around six feet seven inches, not that it helped that she herself was only around five feet two inches. The height difference was rather noticeable, not that anyone really cared. People most likely assumed that they were dating.

He nodded his head as if he understood. "Ah, times before this mess, I presume?"

She shrugged her shoulders in response. "Yes. Not much to laugh about when it comes to our occupation, though there are certain times when you can't help but laugh."

He nodded his head remembering a cooperative job the two had done in the past where the events had been quite laughable. "Yes well, I'll let you go now, as you know I'm a busy man." With that, her friend disappeared into the shadows as quickly as he'd appeared.

She had only gotten a few steps after that before some smelly guy came up to her and put his arm over her shoulder. Her main thought at that moment was that she'd have to take a shower and wash her dress when she as she arrived home. The man was obviously drunk though she couldn't tell if it were merely his lack of knowledge that made him such an ass.

The man looked down at her. "Hey lass, you alone for the day? I can change that if ya' like." He then proceeded to smack her on the bum.

She removed his arm from her shoulders and then used that arm to push his shoulder down to the ground slamming his face into the sidewalk. She leaned down to whisper in his ear. "No thanks and I suggest you not mess with people you do not know because it can and will be your downfall." She straightened up and walked away leaving the man dazed and confused on the ground.

As she walked off, the briefcase in her hand, she shook her head. The manners of people were getting fewer and far between.

~~~~~~~~-TS-~~~~~~~~

Just as she was approaching her apartment building, out of the blue, a man came into her peripheral vision and grabbed her, taking her around her waist with one arm and covering her mouth with the other and pulled her into an alleyway. She glared at the man who didn't seem to be fazed by her stare.

The man who'd nabbed her was none other than Grimmjow, the traveler that she'd decided to help out. _'I suppose this is what I get for being kind.'_ She mentally sighed.

He seemed to realize that being grabbed like that and dragged into the shadows the surrounding buildings like that probably wasn't the best way to get her attention because he let her go.

She narrowed her eyes at him, conscious of the briefcase she carried. "What the hell was that for? Is this what I get for helping you out? Kidnapped?" Her eyes flicked over to another figure standing a few feet behind Grimmjow. The figure was obviously a girl who had long blonde hair. She wore extremely revealing clothing and had her jacket-like covering zipped up to where she couldn't see her nose or mouth. She hadn't spoken yet.

Grimmjow followed her gaze to the girl she'd yet to meet and extended his hand towards her. "Halibel, this is her. She's the one I told you about that helped me." The girl stood with her arms crossed under her breasts and simply stayed silent. Then Grimmjow turned to Khen. "This is Halibel, my, uh, friend."

Khen sighed loudly and put her hands on her hips. "Look, I don't really know that much about you people but I can tell you that I don't have the time to talk with you right now. I have to go." She didn't know why Grimmjow had grabbed her and she didn't care to stay and find out. She turned on her heel and walked back out of the alleyway setting a brisk pace.

She heard Grimmjow followed by Halibel walking behind her and knew that they were coming with her no matter what she says so she decided to ignore them for now. When she arrived at the apartment building she walked in, not bothering to greet the teenage girl working behind the desk. The girl was too busy chewing her gum and looking through a magazine to even notice the three anyway.

Taking the stairs, as always, she continued to ignore the strangely dressed people following her. When she got to her room, she opened the door and as soon as she stepped inside, closed it in Grimmjow's face. A few seconds later, a few rather loud knocks could be heard. "Hey! Open up!" She nearly growled at that, recognizing the voice as the man's.

She placed the briefcase on her little table sitting next to a couch before going to open the door. "WHAT?" She practically shouted at them. "What do you want from me?" The man almost seemed shocked but his companion's features remained emotionless, or at least the features she could see.

Grimmjow paused in his place for a moment before answering. "We seem to be… somewhat lost and was hoping you could help us."

Khen snorted. "Yeah well, I'm not taking in any strays so good-bye." She made a move to slam the door but his foot blocked the way. She opened the door a little ways once more and stared him straight in the eye.

He didn't even budge. "We need a place to stay," was all he said.

Khen stared at them for a moment before slowly opening the door further and taking a step back to let them in. She may as well, considering the fact that the man probably wasn't the type to back down. That and she'd watched him take out those robbers before so she knew some of what he was capable of. Plus, the people in this building would probably be shocked if they found out her capabilities and the fact that she was a notorious assassin. That may not go over very well.

Grimmjow seemed kind of shocked at the fact that she'd submitted so quickly but walked in anyway closely followed by the girl known as Halibel, who she hadn't heard speak a word yet. She poked her head out the door and scanned the hallway relieved to find that nobody was there to see her unusual guests.

Khen closed the door and locked it, making sure to put the little chain lock on it too. When she turned around, Grimmjow had already made himself at home on her couch. He was sitting on it, leaning back with his arms extended over the top of it. She shook her head at him. "Who told you that you could make yourself comfortable on my couch?" He merely shrugged as if to say 'whatever.' For someone who'd just wanted her to let him and his friend stay here, he sure was a cocky bastard.

Halibel just stood with her arms folded beside the couch. She seemed to be studying her apartment. "Fine, you two can stay here if you want but don't break anything, don't eat anything without my permission, don't answer the door, and most importantly, do not go in my personal room." She pointed to the plain white door that led to her bedroom. "This is the living room, that over there is the kitchen, there's the closet, bathroom and guest room." She pointed out each as she said them.

Grimmjow just remained seated on her couch and rolled his eyes like the brooding teenager he is on the inside. It was then that Halibel spoke up for the first time. "We give you our thanks for letting us stay here." Khen stared at her for a moment rather astonished that the girl had actually spoken. She'd begun to think that maybe her vocal cords were damaged. Halibel looked over at Grimmjow. "Don't we Grimmjow?"

She didn't say it with menace but the blue-haired hothead responded as if the comment were laced with poison. "Yeah, thanks and all that."

Khen just shrugged her shoulders before grinning at Grimmjow. "Since you seem to like my couch so much, you can sleep on it. Halibel, you have full permission to use the guest bedroom." Grimmjow made a face but complied. Halibel didn't say or do anything but she could tell that if she could see her mouth, she was most likely smiling.

Khen came forward and grabbed the briefcase from the table next to where Grimmjow sat. He watched her for a moment before asking about it. All she did in response was shrug her shoulders before walking over to her bedroom and going inside to count her money.

~~~~~~~~-TS-~~~~~~~~

When Khen came back out into the living room she found Grimmjow sitting in the same position on the couch except now he had her television remote on his left thigh and he was watching animal planet, which she thought was rather weird. He seemed to be quite interested in a documentary on panthers.

Halibel sat at her kitchen table examining the newspaper from earlier this morning that had been sitting untouched. Khen walked over to the counter and turned on the coffeepot even though it was almost noon by this point. As she waited for it to make enough for a cup, she walked over behind Halibel to see what the woman had been reading about.

She read the title of the news article as 'Another Shoot-Out At The Holiday Inn – Three Found Dead' The woman shook her head. "So much needless killing."

This make Khen raise a questioning eyebrow. Halibel hadn't exactly stuck her as a pacifist, especially the way she'd gotten the idiot in the other room to submit so easily. Truth be told, she wanted to know her secret. She could use her powers of intimidation. "Yeah well, that can't really be helped in a place like this."

Khen walked around the table to take the seat directly across from Halibel. "So, where are you and Grimm from, anyway?" Halibel lowered the newspaper so that she could make eye contact with Khen.

"We are derived from a place known as Hueco Mundo." Khen blinked at her wondering where that was.

"Never heard of it."

Halibel's shoulders lifted in what she took to be a shrug. "Not surprised."

Khen's eyes were drawn to the coffeepot as it began to fill. She rose from her seat to retrieve a mug from her little cabinet above the sink. She filled her cup with the black liquid and put some creamer in it before going into the living room. It was clear to her that Halibel wasn't that big of a talker, though she had noticed something in the woman's eyes. Perhaps it was approval? Who knows.

When she walked into the living room and leaned over the back of the couch to observe what Grimmjow was watching, she quickly found herself to be bored. Educational television wasn't really her thing.

When she finished her coffee, she put the mug in the sink to be washed later. She announced that she was going to take a shower, not that either one of the two even seemed to notice. It would seem as though she'd managed to find herself the two weirdest and most anti-social homeless travelers. Great.

When Khen was in the shower, apparently Grimmjow had to pee so bad that he just barged into the one and only bathroom. Khen was thankful for the curtain as she heard the buffoon enter the room. "What do you think you're doing coming in here while I'm in here?" A purple bar of soap flew from behind the curtain and smacked him in the side of the head.

She could hear the telltale noise of her toilet seat being raised. Grimmjow practically growled his answer at her that he had to use the bathroom. Khen committed the ever-popular face palm. "Fine! Just get out, now!"

When he finished, Grimmjow exited the bathroom and closed the door behind him leaving Khen to her privacy. "Men…" She grumbled to herself.


	4. Good Deeds and Bad

**Disclaimer – I do not own either Naruto or Bleach or its characters. I do own Khen or any other people you don't recognize. Plus, I adore your comments but it may motivate me to write faster if you post more…**

Chapter 3 – Good Deeds and Bad

Khen stood in a red and black plaid skirt that came to a little lower than halfway down her thigh with a white T-shirt that read 'I'm allergic to Idiots' in bold black letters with her black purse slung over her shoulder directly in front of the television. Halibel had found herself something interesting to read from her many books and Grimmjow had taken up his usual spot on her couch.

"I'm going to the store to get some things. I repeat, do not answer the door or leave the apartment." She folded her arms across her chest and gave Grimmjow a hard stare. She considered her statement, knowing that the city is dangerous she'd advised them not to go outside. Not that she had any doubts that these strange people could defend themselves. Grimmjow had already shown her that he could and Halibel looked strong enough. "On second thought, Grimmjow you're free to go at any time." She smiled to herself. If someone wanted to do him in and free her of him, that would suit her just fine.

Grimmjow raised an eyebrow at her. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Khen just shrugged before going over to the door and walking out.

She made her way downstairs so that she could walk to the closest grocery store. She didn't have a car and whenever she needed one she just used a taxi, though she'd prefer not to, considering what everybody knows happens in them.

-Mini TS-

When she made it to her destination, she was surprised to find that another one of those cloak-wearing people was sitting outside the grocery store leaning against the wall. She cast him a curious glance, taking in his blonde hair which was long and mostly put up but some still remained down to hide his left eye. He didn't seem to notice her as she walked by, nor the other people who cast him strange glances and stares.

As she walked into the store, she began to wonder if maybe there was some new cult in the making around here. It wouldn't really surprise her if that were the case.

-MTS-

When she came out of the store holding three or four bags of what she liked to call 'provisions' he was still there, though he was now standing. It didn't appear as though he had any intention of leaving and if he stayed here any longer she had no doubt that the store manager inside would call the cops on him. She'd seen the way the store manager had cast the guy a couple of stares.

She shook her head and as she made her way past the stranger she whispered so that only he could hear. "Walk with me," was all she said.

He looked up at her with a somewhat surprised expression on his face and she guessed not a single person had bothered to say anything to him until now.

Her intention was to make it look as if he had been waiting for her to come out of the store and if she were successful in doing so, it would keep him out of jail for loitering. He seemed innocent enough. Plus, he looked to be around her age so he would look like her friend who hadn't wanted to go in, but only if he played along.

When she looked back at him, he still stood in his place a few steps back but he was now staring at her. That wouldn't do. She made a motion with her hand as if to say 'hurry up' and, thank god, he seemed to understand now.

The guy began to walk her way until he caught up with her and she matched his pace. When the two were out of earshot of any inquisitive people, she turned to him. "What were you doing just sitting there? Do you realize it's illegal to loiter?"

He didn't seem to quite understand what she was talking about. "Sitting is illegal, h'n?"

She blinked at him. How stupid could one person get? "Sitting in front of a store for long periods of time is."

"Oh," he seemed to consider this. "Well, thanks, h'n." He made a move to veer off to go somewhere else but she reached out and grabbed him by the arm drawing him back to her. He stared at her hand for a moment before looking her in the eyes.

"Wait a second." The guy almost looked as if he were trying to decide whether he or she was stronger. "I need to ask you a few questions."

He fell in step with her again, apparently decided to walk with her and answer her questions. "Only if you will answer mine, h'n." He looked at her and she looked at him, mindful of a streetlamp that they were about to pass before looking straight ahead.

"Fine, but I get first question." He nodded his head to tell her that he understood. "Okay, about your cloak…" She paused. "I've seen a couple of other people out and about lately who have the same cloak. Do you know them?"

His eyes widened at her as if she'd just told him she was god. "You've seen other people with a cloak like mine, h'n? What did they look like?"

She glanced over him as she avoided the streetlamp. "Uhh. One of them had blue hair, it was a girl, and a white origami flower in her hair."

He blinked. "You saw Konan?" He almost looked like a child who she'd just reunited with his lost mother. It was a tad bit creepy on someone his age. She made a mental note to herself to try and avoid making him make that face.

She nodded her head, rather unsure. "Well, if that is who she was, I would guess so. The other one I saw was tall, he had silver hair and a big red three-bladed scythe."

It was his turn to nod his head. "That was Hidan, h'n."

She paused for a moment before asking him another question. "What's your name, anyway?"

"Deidara, h'n" Apparently he'd deemed her safe enough to tell her.

Khen gave him a look. "Would you please stop that?"

"Stop what, h'n?"

She almost hit him right then and there. "Stop saying that. 'H'n.' It's annoying."

He didn't even seem to realize that he'd been saying it so he just shrugged. "Force of habit."

"Yeah, well it's an annoying one."

Deidara apparently felt that it was his turn to ask a question. "Where did you see Konan and Hidan, h'n?"

She sighed. "I saw… Hidan a few days ago in front of my apartment building, haven't seen him since. I saw Konan yesterday when I was walking… somewhere." She didn't bother to tell him that she'd been going to speak to someone to get the payment for her latest job. He didn't need to know that.

"Hmmm, can you take me to where you saw one of them, h'n?" His intentions were most likely sincere. Probably just wanted to be reunited with his friends, or whatever they were.

"Well, you can come with me to my apartment building because that's where I'm going now. We're about five minutes away." She really hoped she wasn't mistaken in taking this oddball to her apartment building. She also really hoped Grimmjow wasn't destroying her apartment right about now.

Deidara smiled. "Okay, thanks."

-MTS-

They'd been walking for about five minutes before her apartment building come into view. Deidara and Khen had been completely quiet as Deidara kept an eye out for his friends. She'd just walked along leading him there, wondering if she'd bitten off more than she could chew lately.

When they got to the entrance of her apartment building she looked over at him. "This is it." He looked at her with a disappointed look on his face, which she took to be because he hadn't seen any of his so-called friends. "Well, this is where I leave you, good luck with looking for your friends."

Deidara looked at her. "Wait! I never did ask you your name."

She studied him for a moment before deciding it couldn't hurt to tell him. "My name is Khen." He nodded and Khen turned to walk into her apartment. He didn't appear to be going anywhere. It almost looked like he was about to do the same thing he'd been doing at the grocery store and she inwardly groaned before turning around and grabbing him by the arm to pull him along with her.

He looked at her wide-eyed. "Where are we going, h'n?"

She gave him one of her 'duh' looks. "We are going to my apartment. If you still want to look for your friends, you can do it from my window. There's a clear view of the street from there." She didn't mention that she also wanted to keep an eye on him.

He seemed to accept that her idea was better than his so he followed her upstairs to her apartment. As she was fumbling for the keys to her apartment, her neighbor exited his apartment to the left of hers.

He looked down at her and her strange companion. "Hello, Khen." He eyed her newest stray with interest.

She looked up to see the tall dark-haired man. "Hello, Detective Pitch." Chris Pitch, her next door neighbor, worked for a nearby police department. He was probably one of the very few corrupt ones around here and, of course, she'd managed to get the apartment right next door to his. Luckily, he seemed clueless to her occupation and, like everyone else around here, thought she was a waitress at some restaurant.

He moved past the two and made his way over to the elevators and pushed the button. Deidara watched him as Khen found her keys and unlocked the door. She moved inside quickly, pulling Deidara into the apartment after her. She closed the door before moving into the kitchen to set the four bags of 'provisions' on the kitchen table.

Halibel sat quietly with her book and Grimmjow sat next to her on the couch watching television with a bag of opened chips resting against his side.

When Khen looked over at him, she sighed before walking silently over to him. "Grimmjow!" He looked up. "How many times must I say it? No rent, no chips!" She swiped the bag from him and stormed off into the kitchen to put them away.

Out of the blue, a small explosion could be heard from the living room and she raced back in there. "What the hell was that?"

Deidara was standing near the door, which now had a small black spot on the carpet where he'd set off one of his miniature explosions. "That was art, h'n." Khen wondered what kind of art Deidara enjoyed considering he'd just gestured to the spot on her floor that she'd just set off his little explosion. _'Note to self, do not take Deidara to any art museums,' _she thought to herself as she shook her head.

"Yeah well… No more art in the house." She stalked back into the kitchen to put away the things she'd gotten.

Deidara hovered in front of her apartment doorway, obviously unsure of what he should do now.

After a while of studying him, Grimmjow spoke up. "Who're you?"

Khen walked behind the couch carrying a chair. "None of your business, that's who he is." She set the chair down next to a window and motioned for Deidara to come over. "You can use this chair to watch for your friends."

Deidara sat down in the chair after thanking her and, like a diligent watchdog, began to search the street below for any one of his friends.

When she turned away from him, she watched as Halibel crossed the room with her book and went into the guest room that she'd claimed. Apparently, she'd deemed them too noisy to be around for the moment and Khen couldn't really blame her.

She went to go sit next to Grimmjow on the couch, in the spot Halibel had just abandoned, to see what Grimmjow was watching. He'd found one of their many news channels. This particular one was covering her own activities with her most recent piece of 'artwork.' He was watching it with a sense of disinterest and she saw him about to change the channel.

She gave him a look. "Don't change it."

He returned her look. "Why?"

"Because this is my apartment, that's my television and I want to watch this." She took the remote from him. "If you don't want to watch it, then go do something else."

He seemed to consider this before standing up from the couch and going over to the door. "I think I'll do just that." He opened the door and walked out. She had no doubt he'd be back, though.

She glanced over at Deidara sitting by the window and got up to go over to him. She came to a stop right behind where he sat. "Hey, Deidara?" He turned around to look at her. "Do you have any more of those little explosives on you?"

He visibly brightened and held up his hand with one finger raised as if to say 'give me just a second' and opened the cloak he wore. Beneath it, he had on an odd looking black shirt and matching pants. He also had a brown bag and when he opened it, she saw that there was clay inside. He took a little bit of it out and, suddenly, a mouth on one of his hands opened a gobbled it up.

"Oh, that is so gross." She shook her head. Was that even possible? Anyway, the little mouth spit out a little clay bird, which Deidara handed to her.

She thanked him for the… bird. "Is this going to explode?"

He shook his head. "Not right now, only when I say a certain word." She nodded her understanding and opened the window. "What are you doing to do with it?"

She grinned at him and pointed out the window at Grimmjow who was just now walking out of the apartment building. Deidara's eyes widened at her but he smiled, knowing what she wanted him to do.

She dropped the little bird out the window and, to her surprise; it flapped its little wings and flew down to land on Grimmjow's left shoulder. It was the side that the weird kind of half mask was not. She nodded her head to Deidara, who then made a few funny hand signs.

"Katsu, h'n." She watched as, down below, the tiny bird created a little explosion right next to Grimmjow's head. She and Deidara began to laugh as he fell on his ass, dazed. Grimmjow looked up at them and Khen closed the window, just in time to block a rock that he'd thrown up at them before storming away. They continued to laugh for the next minute or so before Khen went back to watching the news about herself and Deidara went back to watching for his friends.

As she was watching the news, she couldn't help but let her mind drift to Deidara's explosive abilities and what she'd do with him if he didn't see any of his friends. He could defiantly be someone that may be handy in her line of work. Perhaps she'd get him to help her on occasion.

But then again, if he did see one of his friends he'd probably go with whoever they are… unless she could get both him and whoever he sees to stay with her. Heck, whomever he sees may be able to help her out too. She decided that the occasional keeping people from ending up in jail might not be such a bad thing. At least in Deidara's case.


	5. Inhuman

**DISCLAIMER – I do not own Naruto or Bleach! I just make stories. However, I own my character and I will bite you if you steal her.**

Chapter 4

When Grimmjow came back into the apartment, for some odd reason, he seemed to have forgotten all about their little prank with the explosive bird. He didn't even look as if it had done anything but knock him on his ass. There was no mark left on him at all. Of course, that didn't mean that he wasn't going to act like a perfect little law-abiding boy. Oh no, when Grimmjow came back to the apartment and Khen opened up the door, he held in his hands a box of pocky.

Khen blinked her eyes at the man, still standing in the doorway. "Where did you get that?" She asked.

Grimmjow shrugged. "Some place had them. By the way, these are really good."

Khen rolled her eyes. "I know they're good and that's not what I meant. What I meant was, where did you get the money for that?"

Grimmjow seemed shocked. "You have to pay for these things?"

She shook her head. "You are pathetic… Of course you have to pay for them! You also have to give me a piece. Deidara too and if Halibel wants one, give her one."

Grimmjow glared at her. "But that's not fair!"

Khen grinned back at him. "Like hell it's fair. You reside under my roof therefore you obey my law. Besides, you didn't even pay for it so it's fair game." She swiped the box of opened pocky and took a piece out for herself before biting the end off.

She gave him the box back and he took it. Down the hall, Detective Pitch was coming out of the elevator to go to his apartment. Khen saw him about to come around the corner and grabbed Grimmjow by the arm, pulling him into the apartment.

When Detective Pitch saw her in her doorway, about to close the door, he called out to her. "Hey, Khen!"

She smiled and waved politely at the man.

"Have you seen an odd looking man, dressed in white, with blue hair that's really tall?"

Khen blinked her eyes at him innocently. "No, Detective, I can't say I have."

He smiled at her. "Well then, if you do see him, make sure you report him to me or any other police officer."

"Will do officer." Khen needed to break off the conversation now. She could practically sense Grimmjow raging over the fact that the detective had described him as odd looking and he was probably just begging her to let him pummel Chris. "Well, I gotta go, I have soup on the oven." She smiled at him and he smiled back before she closed the door, her smile instantly fading away.

Grimmjow glared at her. "You should let me out so I can beat his ass for calling me odd looking."

She put her hands on her hips. "It's your own fault for stealing."

Across the room, Deidara turned to look at them. "Grimmjow's back, h'n?"

Khen stared at Deidara. "You couldn't hear him earlier?"

Deidara just shrugged. "I fell asleep with my face in the window. Hopefully, I didn't miss any of my fellow Akatsuki, h'n."

She decided against asking him who the Akatsuki are, preferring to assume that they are some sort of cult and that she'd rather not know for sure. She was starting to fear that her apartment if now full of mentally unstable people. Apparently, when Khen is nice to people, she gains insane houseguests, an unfortunate truth. If she weren't dealing with these people, she would no doubt be taking a nice, needed nap right about now. Instead, she had to deal with Grimmjow, Deidara and Halibel, though Halibel didn't really do much of anything, which in her book is good.

Grimmjow took up his usual spot on her couch and reached out for the remote but before he could get it, Khen swiped it and sat on the opposite side of the couch. She turned on the television and surfed the channels but when she clicked past Animal Planet, Grimmjow told her to stop.

She gave him an odd look. "Why do you want to watch a documentary on sharks?" She questioned.

Grimmjow either didn't hear her or completely ignored her because he didn't answer her question, choosing to yell for Halibel instead. "Halibel! Come look, you might learn something about yourself!"

She watched as Halibel poked her blonde head out of the guest room to also give Grimmjow an odd look. "What do you mean…?" Halibel glanced over at the television before rolling her bright green eyes. "Oh, I bet you think you're so funny."

Khen looked from one to the other. "What are you guys talking about?" Both of them looked at her for a moment before Grimmjow shrugged, seeming to have made his mind up about something. Halibel come out of the guest room, closing the door behind her.

Deidara looked over at them from his position at the window, curiosity all too evident on his face.

Grimmjow stood up. "What are you doing?" Khen asked.

He just grinned like the manic idiot he is as he tapped his finger on the mask he always wore. "This is what we call a hollow mask. Halibel and I are what we like to call, arrancars. By the expression on your face, I can tell you're already lost. We are arrancars, AKA not human." He gestured back and forth between the Halibel and himself.

She decided that was the craziest and most confusing thing she'd ever heard before now. Khen stared at him for a moment before reaching into her pocket to pull out her cell phone. "You're crazy. Do you realize I can make one phone call and have your ass locked up in a rubber room somewhere wearing a straightjacket?" Grimmjow didn't even blink an eye.

Halibel pulled down the top of her jacket-like top to reveal a mask that covers the lower half of her face, which happened to look very similar to Grimmjow's. "Actually, Grimmjow is not crazy. We are what he claims we are, arrancars. We are the dead and gone that become 'hollows' or what you might call 'bad spirits' who have evolved to the human-like form, which you see now. Arrancars are the highest level that a hollow can get, or in other words, we are very powerful."

Khen's eye twitched. "Okay then… Well, what do your masks do?"

Grimmjow joined in the informative speech. "Hollows are typically invisible spirits that feed off of the souls of both the living and the dead and they have a mask made of bone that covers their entire face. Arrancars, having evolved from hollows, are also typically invisible to human eyes and they too have hollow masks, but arrancars only have part of their masks left intact." He gestured to his own and then to Halibel's.

Khen eyed them both; once again Grimmjow had managed to not answer her actual question. She had to admit, they sounded completely insane and yet convincing at the same time, if that is even possible. Though, if they were invisible, how come she and other people can see them? "Tell me this then, genius. If you guys are invisible to human eyes, how come me and other people can see you two?"

Halibel shrugged her shoulders. "Actually, we've been wondering the same thing. For some reason, humans are able to see us, which is extremely rare."

Khen looked from her, to Grimmjow, and then back to her before flailing her arms in the air wildly. "Are you kidding me? You actually expect me to believe you? Quit lying to me, I bet you guys just made that up. If you are what you say you are, prove it."

Grimmjow looked at her and grinned. "Fine by me." He took the sword from his hip, which she'd somehow failed to notice of all things, and held it in front of himself before taking his other hand and placing the tips of his fingers on the side of the blade.

"What're you doing?" Khen asked but instead of replying, Grimmjow said something else.

"Growl Pantera!" In a sudden flash of blue light, Grimmjow transformed right in front of her eyes. Almost blinding her, of course, but it was still pretty cool. His blue hair grew longer, his ears changed to look like a cat's, his whole outfit changed, his mask changed, heck, he even had a tail.

Khen's eyes grew wide and she stood up from the couch. She stared at him for a good five seconds or so before going over to pet him, of all things. Halibel laughed as Khen chased Grimmjow around the room as he tried to get away from her petting him. At one point, Khen hopped over the couch and tackled him to the ground so that she could scratch him behind the ear.

Grimmjow threw her off of him and stood up. "Stop that!"

Khen grinned at him. "But you look so adorable like that! Is this why you like to watch Animal Planet all the time?"

Grimmjow scowled down at her.

"Oh, yeah… I've been meaning to ask you, why is there a hole in your chest?" She reached out and stuck her arm through the hole in his stomach only to have him pull away and go stand by Halibel.

Grimmjow crossed his arms over his chest. "When a soul is turning into a hollow it has a hole located somewhere on it's body. For example, mine is on my chest."

Khen made a face as if she actually understood all this madness. When she looked over at Deidara, he looked as shocked as she felt. "Do you believe them Khen, h'n?"

Before she could answer, Grimmjow looked over at Deidara. "Who's Khen?"

Her eyes widened when she realized that she had never told Grimmjow that her real name is Khen. "Oh, ah, sorry about that. My name is Khen. When I met you, I thought it would be safer to tell you my assassin name. I am both the Viper and Khen. Nice to meet ya', again."

Grimmjow just shook his head and returned to his usual form. Halibel had already fixed her jacket to cover the mask again. She took this as a sign that they weren't mad about the name mix-up.

Khen studied Grimmjow for a moment when she saw the '6' tattoo. She pointed it out. "Why do you have a number six tattoo?"

Grimmjow turned a little bit to give her a better view. "The top ten most powerful arrancars are given the status of Espada who are given a number between one to ten, one being the most powerful, ten being very powerful but still the weakest of the ten. I happen to be number six."

Khen looked over to Halibel. "Are you one of these 'Espada' too?"

Halibel nodded her head and unzipped the end of her jacket from the bottom up to reveal a number three tattoo on the side of one of her breasts. She zipped it back, but not before Deidara had a nosebleed and ran into the bathroom to get something to stop it.

Khen grinned at Halibel and Grimmjow. "So Halibel is higher ranking than you, Grimmjow?" She laughed, much to his displeasure. "That must have been why Halibel was actually able to make you thank me before."

Grimmjow just sat down on the edge of the couch, obviously enraged but trying hard not to rip anyone's head off.

Deidara came out of the bathroom, nosebleed apparently taken care of, and went over to sit in front of the window. She followed him with her eyes for no reason before looking back at Halibel. "So do you have another form too?" Halibel just nodded before going back into the guest room.

Khen looked at Grimmjow, who was watching television again, and retreated to her room to digest the information. Grimmjow's other form had proven to her that they defiantly weren't human. The fact that that were dead would explain how they could tolerate the hole in them. Of course, this raises the question of can they be killed if they are already dead? Also, there was the matter of the fact that they can be seen by humans like herself when, supposedly, that is impossible. And last but not least, if Halibel and Grimmjow are here with her, are there any more arrancar out there? Or even more Espada? If so, it may cause somewhat of a problem.

She shook her head to clear it of thoughts before lying down on her bed to take a nap. Perhaps, when she wakes up she'll understand it a bit better. Highly unlikely, but a good reason to take a nap.

~~-TS-~~

She woke up to the telltale sound of her cell phone ringing, her ringtone waking her up as soon as the little phone went off.

She groaned, discontented by the fact that she'd been dragged from her nap, a rare luxury, as she sat up in her bed and reached out blindly for the phone that sat on her bedside table. When her hand reached it, she accidentally knocked it off the table and onto the floor as it rang for the second time.

Hopping from her bed, she snatched up the phone and answered it as she held it to her ear. "Hello?" She managed.

"Hello, Love. So nice of you to actually answer your phone this time."

Khen racked her brain to match the voice to its owner and after a moment she matched the voice to 'Rose,' a particularly annoying assassin she'd done a job with some time ago. She hadn't even thought to check the number before answering, a stupid mistake on her part.

"Oh, how nice to hear from you, dear Rose. To what do I owe such a pleasure?" Her voice oozed with sarcasm as she stood in her dark room with her free hand on her hip. Her black painted fingernails drummed against her hip as she waited for a reply.

Rose laughed into the phone. "Actually Love, I happen to be about to carry out a job soon and I need your help. Could you throw on something nice and help an old friend out? If so, bring that crossbow of yours that I know you have. Maybe you can disguise yourself as a musician. If you agree to help me, I'll tell you the address of the party I happen to be attending this evening."

Khen rolled her eyes. "Why on Earth should I come help you?"

"If you help me, I'll give you half of the cash I'm getting for this job. How's half a million sound to you?"

Khen's eyes grew wide. "Half a million?"

"Yup, you heard me right, Love."

"Who's the target?"


	6. The Things We Do For Money

**DISCLAIMER – I do not own Naruto or Bleach. : **

**I remember one time I had a potato so I put it on my head. When I found that I could balance it on my head, I called myself the 'Potato Queen.' I was around seven years old. Wow, that was random. Anywho, this chapter is rather short but- enjoy!**

Chapter 5

When Khen came out of her room she wore a strapless plain black dress that showed off her curves and showed her tattoo of black demon wings on her shoulder blades. They were clearly visible but Rose had informed her that they would be allowed considering the musicians would be facing their audience. Not that she'd actually be on stage though. Her hair was tied up in a ponytail with the usual strip of spikes in it to ensure an attacker a bloody hand if they tried to grab her by her hair. She had black converse on but in the musical instrument case she carried, there were a pair of sleek black two-inch heels to change into when she arrived at the party. Also in the case was her crossbow and two throwing knives. Strapped to the inside of her thigh was another unseen knife. She had on some makeup, which darkened the area around her eyes and she also had on a chain necklace of a small black dragon. Other than her hair color, she should be able to fit in with the musicians that Rose had told her about but the beauty of wearing this sort of outfit is that without her musical case, she'd be easily mistaken for a part guest too.

Grimmjow looked over at her. "Where are you going?"

She shot him a menacing look. "None of your business."

He seemed satisfied with her answer, not one to pry for information unless it actually interested him. Deidara also looked over at her but didn't say anything.

She looked across the room at a clock on the wall that displayed the time as just past nine. She'd have plenty of time to get to the party and meet with Rose to exterminate their target according to the plan they'd laid out over the phone.

When she laid her hand on the doorknob, she scanned the apartment before stepping out and closing the door behind her. Happy to find the hallway quiet and empty, she left her apartment building in a hurry to get into the shadows so she could travel safer, or at least safer for her anyway. Most people in this city would say the exact opposite.

When she made it into the alleyway beside her apartment building, she climbed a convenient ladder all the way up to the roof. Lucky for her, most of the buildings around here were around the same height.

She spotted her destination not too far from where she stood. The building had glossy windows that implied it was one of the better-maintained buildings in the city, a large hotel that most likely housed some of the richest and perhaps most criminal of their town's population. It would certainly explain the exceptionally high bounty on the man who they were to be hunting's head.

She mapped out the best route to get to the party in her head before going back down to the streets below and made her way there.

**-MTS-**

Khen arrived at the time that most of the guests were also coming in; her targeted time, and slipped into the large entryway among the crowd of people. It was an amazing turnout for a party, which didn't surprise her at all because everyone around here did love a good party. She'd already changed into her sleek black heels and was heading for the area where she was to meet Rose.

She stood by a large speaker on the right side of the room where she'd been told to come and laid down her instrument case. When Rose appeared out of the crowd, she instantly identified her by her bright red dress, curly auburn hair and plump red lips.

The woman came over to her and without a word, took her instrument case and nodded her head as if in thanks. The two of them both walked away, Rose to her vantage point in the rafters and Khen to find their target.

Her job was to seduce the target into the perfect place for Rose to shoot him down from her vantage point. Before Rose would make the shot, Khen was tell him to stay put while she goes to the bathroom, when in reality she would leave the party and linger in the shadows for Rose to appear, so that the shot from the rafters would not be traced to her at all. Rose was to meet her outside, give her the half of the money she had promised and then both of them would go their separate ways.

**-MTS- **

The plan went without a hitch. She got her instrument case back from Rose, filled with half a million from the wealthy gentleman that wanted their target dead, her crossbow and the two knives. Rose had gotten the half million up front and given it to her, which she'd counted before leaving, and would go get the other half for herself the same night.

Khen was currently on her way back to her apartment, walking on the side of the street carrying her instrument case.

In her peripheral vision she spotted a dark figure in the alley she was passing and she looked over her shoulder to see who it was when she caught sight of a familiar red cloud. She studied the figure in the shadows and noticed that whoever it was; they had their back to Khen, and knew that this was most likely one of the people that Deidara was looking for. It wasn't the blue-haired girl or the guy with the scythe she'd seen before but she was sure of it.

She stepped into the shadows of the alley and the man turned to look at her having heard her footsteps.

She stopped her movements and studied his face, now visible to her, and was shocked to find that his eyes had a red background where the white would normally be with green on the center. She blinked at him. The tall figure definitely looked like someone that wouldn't be very nice, Deidara would owe her one for this.

"Who are you?" The man asked.

Khen took in a sharp breath. "My name is Khen… I think I may know one of your friends."

The man raised an eyebrow at her. "Oh, is that so? What friend would this be?"

"His name is Deidara."

He seemed to consider this for a moment's time before replying. "Where is he?"

She pointed to the building a little ways down the street. "He's inside there. I've been letting him stay with me so that he could look for his … friends."

He eyed her. "And how do I know this isn't a trick?"

Khen sighed. "I've got the stain on my carpet where he set off one of his explosions to prove it." She walked away after that, heading straight for her apartment building. The man must have taken her word for it because he followed not far behind her but when Khen looked up at her window to see if Deidara had spotted them, she saw that he'd fallen asleep again.

She shook her head to herself and headed inside the building and up to her apartment. She managed to get inside without being spotted by anyone but the teenage drama queen working the desk downstairs. She waited at the door for the cloaked man and when he came into the apartment after her, she closed the door.

He examined her apartment and went over the sleeping Deidara.

In less than the time it took for the mysterious man to wake up Deidara, she'd already put the musical instrument case that contains the half a million in her room and come back out.

When she'd come back into the room, Deidara was just now waking up and when he saw the man his eyes grew wide with realization. Khen took this as a good sign, a sign of recognition of a friend or whatever this man was.

Deidara stared at him. "How did you find me, Kakuzu?" She took this to be his name.

"I let him in. I thought you might know him since you guys have the same cloak on. Apparently, I was right." She smiled over at him, feeling somewhat accomplished.

Kakuzu gestured for Deidara to get up and leave with him. "Come quickly, Deidara. You can help me exterminate a certain person for a man known by 'V.' Your explosives ought to be helpful, we need the money."

Khen raised an eyebrow at that. So this man was an assassin of some sort? Did that make Deidara an assassin too? If they were assassins, they hadn't done many jobs around here because at the mention of 'V' Khen instantly recognized it as something to be treated with caution. "I wouldn't go if I were you."

Kakuzu glared over at her, seemingly angered at the fact that she would tell him not to go out and kill someone for money, most likely taking her statement the wrong way.

"Again, I wouldn't do that if I were you. 'V' may be wealthy and he has plenty of people he wants dead but I recommend that you don't do it. He'd take any opportunity to keep his money for himself after you do the job for him. Or in other words, he kills assassins he hires after they do the job for him." She shook her head at the thought of one of her few friends having fallen to that sort of trick before.

Kakuzu seemed to take her word for it because he swore to himself. If it were true that this man needs money like he'd claimed, he'd most likely go out and try to find himself a new job and unless he'd made a name for himself in this city he'd be hard pressed to find one. She could always take this man and Deidara with her on one of her jobs. She would even allow them to keep an equal share of the money. Depending on what Kakuzu could do, he may be of some assistance. Then again, she could find a job for herself, tell them to do it and claim the money for them under her name.

"If you're looking for a job, perhaps I can help." Kakuzu eyed her, most likely suspicious of her. "Ah, and if your wondering, I work in the same profession as you as far as assassination goes."

Deidara's eyes grew wide as he stared at her. "Really, Khen?" She nodded her head at him. When she looked over her shoulder at Grimmjow on the couch to see if he'd caught their conversation she wasn't at all surprised to find that he most likely didn't hear a word they'd said so far. When he watches television it's like he had blinders on. She didn't mind as long as she is able to watch what she wants when she wants to and as long as he didn't try stealing the chips again.

Kakuzu nodded his head as if it made sense to him. "So you'd be able to get us a job?"

"Yes."

"How soon?"

"It would take me a day or so. Give or take."

He appeared as though he were thinking it over. "And where would we be able to stay in the meantime?"

Khen grinned and gestured over to where Grimmjow was sitting. "My couch can fold out into a bed so you can share it with hothead over there." She glanced over at Grimmjow. "Right Grimmjow?"

Having heard his name, Grimmjow replied mindlessly without even looking away from the television. "Yeah, sure whatever."

Kakuzu looked over at Deidara as if to question him if she could be trusted or not. Deidara nodded his head; so far she'd been kind to Deidara so he figured she could be trusted. The blue-haired one, not so much.

In the end, Kakuzu agreed, Khen gained another houseguest and Grimmjow was surprised later on that night to find that he'd have to share the couch-bed.


	7. Tobi!

**Disclaimer – I do not own Naruto or Bleach. Blah blah blah. **

**Anyhow, here's a chapter, hope ya' enjoy.**

Chapter 6

Khen sat in front of the television with the remote in her hands. Grimmjow was taking a cat nap on the other side of the couch, Halibel was taking refuge from the insanity in the guest room and the other two, Kakuzu and Deidara, were sitting in the kitchen eating bowls of cereal while talking about god-knows-what.

"_We've just received a report that yet another church had been burned to the ground. Witnesses say they saw a suspicious man that was yelling something along the lines of 'For Jashin-sama!'" _The news reporter droned on. _'This man is believed to be armed and dangerous, if you see him, call police immediately.' _

Without her even noticing it, Deidara and Kakuzu had come over and were both standing behind Khen as they watched the news.

"Do you think that could be Hidan, h'n?" She turned her head to see them both standing there, cereal bowls in hand, conversing amongst themselves.

Kakuzu didn't even miss a beat with his reply. "Who else could it be?"

Khen raised an eyebrow at them both. "You mean the scythe guy that I saw before?"

Deidara nodded but Kakuzu looked a little confused. "You've seen Hidan?"

Khen shrugged her shoulders. "I think so, I described him to Deidara a few days ago and he said that's who it was. Silver, slicked back hair, had a cloak like yours and carried around a big three-bladed red scythe. I saw him before I met either of you." Kakuzu seemed take that as a definite Hidan sighting. "Your friend must not like religion."

If she could see his mouth, she was sure Kakuzu would be smirking at that by his expression. "Actually, he likes religion a lot, but only his religion. That's the Jashin he'd been yelling about."

Khen's left eye twitched a bit. "I see… Well, you're friend is going to get himself arrested if he keeps going around burning churches like that." Speaking of her insane 'friends,' she seemed to gain them in the most interesting of ways. _'Like Grimmjow, if he could be called a friend, and how she'd found him in that alleyway, almost like a stray cat.'_ This thought caused her to start giggling to herself like a madwoman. Both of the guys stared at her as if _she_ was the crazy one.

She sighed and stood up from the couch. "You two stay here, I'm going downstairs to see if I have any mail." They both looked as if she didn't know what the heck she was talking about but nodded anyway. She pointed at Deidara, who was holding his spoon in mid-air with Cheerios in it, and gave him one of her menacing looks. "Remember, no art in the apartment." He replied that he understood.

She grabbed her keys and she left the apartment to go downstairs. When she got in the lobby, her landlord looked up to see her and smiled that evil smile that someone gets when they want something from you.

She eyed him for a second before walking over to the desk that he stood behind. "Do I have any mail?"

"Do you have your rent?"

She scowled. "Nice to see you too."

"I'm not kidding around."

"Tch. Fine, here it is." She handed over her rent for the month and he handed over a small stack of envelopes from her box on the wall behind him.

She took them and retreated back up the stairs, not without casting a glance over her shoulder at the landlord. In her mind, she pictured him with flames for hair and shadows swirling around him. He wasn't a nice guy and she knew it.

When she got to her door, she heard a loud thump and she opened the door quickly. "What are you guys doing?" She hissed as she closed the door behind her. On the floor was Grimmjow who'd been tackled by Deidara.

Deidara looked up at her. "He was trying to get the chips again!"

Grimmjow got out from under Deidara and made a little 'humph' noise. "I could have had them too, if it weren't for you."

Khen glared at Grimmjow before throwing her black converse shoe at him. He dodged it and it hit Kakuzu where the sun don't shine instead. Grimmjow smirked, obviously satisfied with himself and Kakuzu glared over at them.

Khen ran over to retrieve her shoe. "I'm so sorry! It was supposed to hit Grimmjow, not you! Are you okay?"

Kakuzu, who'd doubled over at the hit to the bad area practically growled his response. "No, I'm not okay!"

She looked over at Grimmjow, who was now leaning against the back of the couch. "See what you did!"

Grimmjow shook his head. "You're the one that threw the shoe."

"But you're the one that dodged it!" She went off into the little kitchen area where Deidara now sat, laughing at what had just gone on in the living room. She sat across from him and spread the mail out on the table in front of her. She put all the bills and other boring stuff in one pile, the trash in another pile and things that actually interested her in another. Unfortunately, there was only one letter in the 'things that actually interested her' pile and she picked it up first.

Upon inspection, she found that there was no return address, which bothered her a bit. She opened the envelope and pulled out a sheet of paper. It was a typed letter addressed to her assassin's persona. Not good. She can't have people knowing where she lives.

She read it to herself silently; completely oblivious to Kakuzu trying to strangle Grimmjow with what could only be described as tentacles in the other room.

Her eyes scanned the paper before she put it down and turned to Deidara who sat across from her at the table. "Guess what!"

Deidara turned to look at her with wide eyes. "What, h'n?"

"Chicken butt." Deidara's eye twitched. "Hah, never gets old. Anyhow, you and your friend have got a job!" Her eyes wandered over to the living room where Grimmjow lay on the couch, she assumed he was asleep, and Kakuzu was leaning against the back of the couch looking rather satisfied with himself. "What happened with them?"

Deidara shook his head as if to say 'you don't want to know.'

She brushed the thought to the side and waved for Kakuzu to come over. When he came, she explained the job that was to be done and what she'd do for them. She would go confirm the job with the client, they would go do the job and she'd collect the money and give them seventy percent of it. Technically, her price had been fifty percent at the start but Kakuzu had decided that wasn't enough. After the haggling, Khen had gone off into her room, grumbling to herself about the fact that if it were only Deidara, he probably would have just agreed.

~~-TS-~~

Having taken a nap, Khen exited her little fortress against insanity –AKA- her room. What she saw when she came into the little living room didn't surprise her, Grimmjow on the couch playing with things on her table, Halibel reading a book and Kakuzu and Deidara both looking out a window while talking.

Bored, she decided to walk over to the window and take a look at what could possibly interest both of the Akatsuki members into looking out the window. When she came up behind them, they both stopped talking as if sensing her presence. She looked at the street below in the dark stood a figure with a cloak like Kakuzu and Deidara's but this man has black hair and an orange swirl mask.

"Who's that?" She asked to neither one of the two in particular.

Deidara shook his head making a face. "Nobody."

"That's Tobi." Kakuzu said.

Khen brushed away a few rebelling strands of hair from her eyes so that she could lean over to get a better look. Deidara, taking this opportunity to lean back and inspect her behind, wasn't expecting Khen to elbow him in the head for doing so.

He rubbed the place where she'd hit him. "Hey! What was that for, h'n?"

She gave him one of her 'duh' looks. "What do you think it was for, Sherlock?" Deidara stared at her, obviously confused as to her reference to Sherlock Holmes. "Sherlock is a famous- oh never mind." She pointed out the window. "Is he in the Akatsuki too? Why don't you go down there to get him?"

Deidara took no time in answering. "He's annoying, h'n."

She grinned. "Yeah, well, so are you."

Khen opened the window and looked down at the man standing below in the fading light of day. She doubted he'd be able to hear her from up here so she, in typical show-off fashion, gripped a pipe that clung to the wall next to her window and slid down until her feet touched the ground. She made sure to bend her knees to absorb the shock of the fall because, if not, that Tobi guy may be carrying her back to her apartment with a broken leg.

She reached out to tap the guy on the shoulder. "Hello, there. My name is Khen and I think I know some friends of yours. Does Deidara sound familiar to you?"

The man turned around to face her. "You've met Deidara-senpai!"

She paused, not quite sure how to answer after such brimming enthusiasm. She could see him practically bouncing from her just saying that. "Yeah, I can take you to him if you want."

"Really? Yay! My name is Tobi and I am a good boy!"

Khen looked up at the masked man, wondering if there was a five year old behind the mask even though the man was much taller than she is. "Uh, sure. Here, have a lollipop." She fished out a lollipop from her pocket and presented it to the man, which he took and happily sucked on. She could see why Deidara would call him annoying, even though, technically, she'd only come down here to get this Tobi guy for the specific reason of annoying Deidara as a way to get back at him more for eyeing her behind. She would have just left the guy if he hadn't.

She smiled at him as he slipped the lollipop under the mask to suck on it, satisfied with herself for finding a way to shut him up.

Khen led the way back up to her apartment and when she opened the door, Deidara looked over at her. "Oh, now you've done it, h'n!" She ignored him as she went over to close the window.

She turned around just in time to see the man, Tobi, glomping Deidara and almost knocking him to the floor. "Deidara-senpai!" Deidara did something along the lines of grunt and groan at the same time, an odd noise, as Kakuzu seemed to laugh evilly at his expense.

It was then that someone knocked on her apartment door and she had to wonder who would visit her at this hour. She motioned for everyone to shut up before going over to open it just a crack and peer out.

To her surprise, there stood Chris Pitch, her detective neighbor, who looked very concerned. "Are you all right in there, Khen?" He attempted to look in her apartment as best he could.

"Yes detective, I'm fine."

His nosiness didn't stop there when he caught sight of Deidara trying to silently get Tobi off him. Apparently, the sight of the two men wrestling on her floor wasn't very reassuring to him because he tried to push her door open some more, just enough to allow him to spot Grimmjow sitting on the couch.

He pointed at Grimmjow. "Is that the guy who stole-?"

He didn't get very far before Khen pushed him back out into the hallways and came out closing the door behind her. "No, it's not."

"It certainly looked like it."

"Well, he's not."

There was a small awkward silence between the two as Khen held the taller man's gaze for a few seconds before he looked away. "He matches all the descriptions."

"He's a cosplayer." The detective gave her a dumbfounded look. "A cosplayer is someone who dresses up as someone else or a character."

He shook his head. "What about the tattoos?"

"Face paint."

Chris gave a look before going back over to his apartment and she shrugged before going back inside her own.

She pointed at Grimmjow, attempting to ignore the overexcited Tobi to her left. "You have got to be less obvious."

He frowned. "What do you mean less obvious?"

She gave him a wicked grin. "I mean we are going shopping tomorrow."

~~-TS-~~

The next morning, she came out of her room to find the guys still asleep. Grimmjow and Kakuzu on the couch, each with there own blanket because Grimmjow is a blanket hog. Deidara was asleep in the chair again and Tobi was asleep on the floor with a pillow and a blanket.

She eyed them all. "They look to harmless and not insane when they sleep…"

Khen tiptoes around them, not wanting to waste away the quiet that them being asleep allowed, and makes herself a cup of coffee.

Which the coffee is brewing, she eyes a sharpie marker on the kitchen table and grins to herself.

She goes back into the living room and eyes the four of them picking out her targets, Grimmjow and Deidara. She goes over to Grimmjow first, giving him kitty whiskers and writing 'Loser' on his forehead. Next, she goes over to Deidara to give him a monocle and a moustache.

Satisfied with her work, she goes back into the kitchen to put away the sharpie and drink her coffee. It isn't until thirty minutes later that the first of the guys to wake up, Tobi, wakes up everyone else in the apartment.

Tobi rushes over to Deidara. "What's on your face?" He asks with an innocent tone. Deidara gives Tobi a confused look. "What do you mean, what's on my face, h'n?"

Deidara rushes off to the bathroom to inspect his face in the mirror.

Tobi, seeing Grimmjow, goes over to him to find that he too, has graffiti on his face. When Grimmjow finds that out, he too rushes off to the bathroom. Of course, Deidara and Grimmjow end up turning on each other for the blame leaving Kakuzu, Halibel and Khen to laugh at them and Tobi to sit on the couch giggling as well.


	8. Shopping

**Disclaimer – I do not own Naruto or Bleach. The chapter is short but I finally got it out. Enjoy it. :'3**

Chapter 7

Having made Grimmjow wash her wonderful graffiti off his face and them both taking showers, Khen and Grimmjow set off on their dreaded quest to go shopping. She'd given him a plain white T-shirt to wear to cover up the hole in his chest but, of course, he'd still worn the little jacket he's so fond of. She had on a plain black skirt that came down just past the middle of her thigh. Her shirt featured a dragon with it's black wings spread wide.

As they were walking along one of the many sidewalks to get to a nearby mall, Grimmjow seemed to be fascinated with the cars that sped past them. At one point, he gestured over to cars as they drove by. "How come you don't have one of those things?"

She looked up at him. "How come you don't have one of what?"

He pointed at a car as it passed them by, letting a rush of air whip through them. "One of those fast moving things."

She shook her head. "It's called a car, Grimmjow, and I don't have one because I'd prefer to walk, even though it is much slower this way."

Grimmjow seemed to consider this. "Well, we could get there faster if…."

She gave him a look. "If…?"

"If I use my released form."

Khen stared at him for a moment and then glanced down at her already somewhat tired feet before shrugging her shoulders. "Whatever, so long as we get there eventually."

Grimmjow grinned before grabbing her and half dragging her into the nearest shadowy alleyway. There, he said that odd saying 'Growl, Pantera.' She watched for the second time as his outward appearance changed.

"How is this gonna' get us to the mall qui- AHH!" It was then that Grimmjow took her by the waist and tossed her up into the air. She attempted to smooth down her skirt that gravity had, oh so graciously, flipped up when he'd thrown her into the air. He launched himself into the air and as he shot past her, he grabbed her by the jacket and landed on the roof of the building they'd previously been standing next to.

Khen, a bit winded and suffering from dizziness, was put on his back as he lowered himself to all fours, much the like the bit kitty cat that he is. Her eyes widened as he began to run and jump across the tops of buildings and she gripped onto his hair to keep from falling off his back.

She couldn't help but feel a bit sick from all the jumping from building to building, though. "Uhm, Grimmjow, I feel a tad bit queasy."

Grimmjow glanced up at her. "You better not dare throw up on me."

Khen slouched down closer to him to keep from getting herself thrown off. "I'm surprised nobody's seen us yet, running up here like this." She pointed to a large two-story building up ahead. "There! Just come down in the alleyway two down from it."

Grimmjow nodded his understanding before hopping down to land on all fours in the alleyway. Khen, her legs jelly after that, had to hand onto his shoulder when she stood up before she was able to walk straight.

"Didja' really have to pull so hard on my hair?" Grimmjow growled.

She shrugged. "Well, it's not my fault you don't come with instructions on how to ride… Oh, that sounds so wrong." She face palmed as they walked out of the alleyway, Grimmjow now in his so-called normal form.

Grimmjow just grinned to himself as Khen distracted her mind by looking at all the exotic people you tend to see at malls. They all walked around in their little high-school clicks. You can easily spot them out wherever you go but the mall just screams 'I attract weird people!' For example, Khen and Grimmjow seemed to attract quite a bit of attention themselves. Her with her bleach blonde hair, black and purple streaks, and the classic black skirt because it's a daring move to wear a skirt around here. Grimmjow managed to collect odd looks wherever they go what with his bright blue spiky hair, rather odd white clothing [the probably they'd come to fix] and his bone mask.

Khen took him by the arm and led him through the people in the mall, trying to avoid any and all contact with the people there.

They arrived in front of the Hollister store easily enough. Khen had figured that Grimmjow might find himself something decent to wear here. Then again… after twenty minutes of trying on clothes, none of it seemed to suit his taste. They tried Old Navy, Abercrombie, Aero postal and a few others but mostly finding nothing. She had bought him a few pairs of blue jeans at the Old Navy though. Heck, she'd even humored him in saying that his legs looked sexy in black skinny jeans so she'd gotten him those too for shits and giggles.

After their many failed attempts, they came down to two possible stores. They now stood in front of the first, Hot Topic, the store that she herself visited every so often. They'd only tried the other stores before this one because she'd thought that he'd be able to find something in them but it turned out that in clothes, he had similar tastes to her own.

They got lucky since there was a 'Buy One, Get One Half Off' T-shirt sale so they'd gotten a bag FULL of them. She'd even gotten herself one that was white with blood splatters on it that read 'Keep calm and kill zombies.'

Grimmjow, being forced by Khen, went into the mall bathroom to change into his choice of an outfit from what she'd gotten him. Lucky for him, he made up his mind quickly because Khen didn't want to wait around forever.

When Grimmjow came out carrying his bags, he'd chosen to wear the black skinny jeans with a black shirt that had in big, blue letters 'BITE ME' written on the front. She took a moment to study him. He looked like he could pass for a relatively normal citizen.

While on the way back to her apartment, Khen couldn't help herself. She reached over and pulled his left arm towards her only for her to open her mouth wide and bite down on his arm. Grimmjow pulled away and wiped the saliva from his arm on her jacket sleeve as she laughed. "What the hell was that for?"

Khen grinned up at him. "I was simply following the orders of your shirt." The expression on his face after that made her laugh more.

After that, they walked along in silence for a few minutes before some guy on a motorcycle rode up beside them and grabbed Khen's arm. "Hey there, sweetheart." She made a face at his horrible breath. "Why not come with me instead of this fag?" Grimmjow looked pissed. "Yeah, I can tell you're a fag cause' your skinny!"

Khen gave the man a look as if to say 'If you don't let go of me right now, you're going to lose a hand' before rolling his eyes. "Oh, the intelligence of people never ceases to amaze me."

The man yanked her arm, obviously displeased. "Are you insultin' me, bitch?"

"Cussing, the resort of someone who can't think up something better to say. Yes, I'm insulting you." She smiled innocently. "Problem?" [Inset Trollface Here]

The man scowled at her and made a move as if he were going to drag her onto his motorcycle when, before Khen could do anything herself, Grimmjow kicked him square in the face. This resulted in his falling off the bike, the bike falling on him, an injured ego and a string of curses.

Before he had a change to get up, Grimmjow began to squish the man with his bike by putting his foot on the bike and pushing down repeatedly. Khen rolled her eyes, grabbed Grimmjow by the arm, and walked away with him in tow.

Despite him having done that, Grimmjow still had to carry the bags. When he complained, Khen had just replied that she'd had to but them for him and they were now his so he should get over it to which Grimmjow had 'humped' and fallen silent.

~~-MTS-~~

"Wow, Grimmjow! You look like a regular person now!" Tobi was, as usual, overly exited when they arrived back at the apartment.

Grimmjow growled at him. "This coming from you, of all people." He went over to the couch and set down the bags of clothes before sitting down on the couch.

After thinking about it for a minute, Grimmjow looked over at Khen. "Where am I gonna put all this stuff?"

Khen blinked, not having thought that all the way through. "Well, I guess we could put them in the drawer in the guest room… Is that okay with you, Halibel?"

Halibel just shrugged from her position at the kitchen table where she currently worked on a word search in the little book of word finds that Khen had gotten her.

Khen went over and picked up the bags. "I'm going to go put them in the drawer then, but just know that you should knock on the door before you go in while Halibel is in there, Grimmjow." She gave him a look that said 'like how you didn't knock when I was in the shower, ye bastard.' She then went into the guest room to put them in the drawer.

Having done that, she came back out to see the usual gang. Grimmjow on the couch acting like he hadn't heard her, Halibel on the other side of the couch reading a book, Deidara sitting at the kitchen table talking with Kakuzu, most likely about money and Tobi also at the kitchen table. He, of course, was sitting on the chair as if he were some sort of giant puppy. If he had a tail, it would be wagging. She'd learned, even in the short time that she'd known him, Kakuzu really liked his money. Deidara just wanted to blow things up. Tobi was… Tobi-like. Grimmjow really likes TV and Halibel really likes books.

Khen shook her head and went into the kitchen and sat on the counter, seeing as how her guests had taken all her chairs.

"Hey guys." Kakuzu, Deidara and Tobi all looked over at her. "Guess wha~at?"

The only visible eye of Tobi's widened. "What is it Khen? Are we getting lollipops?" He gasped. "Are you on your period?"

She looked at Tobi in surprise. "What the hell? No! Tomorrow is the day that you guys are going to do that assassination job under my name." She narrowed her eyes at the three of them. "Since the job was for me, I've already gone and accepted it as the Viper and you guys are going to do the job and I'll collect the money, which we will split as promised but you guys better not screw it up or you're as good as dead."

Kakuzu didn't seem to be fazed by her threat and Deidara didn't really seem to care but Tobi was taken aback. "You would kill us, Khen?" He paused. "Are you sure you're not on your period?"

She hopped from the counter and punched him in the head. "Yes I'm sure!"


	9. Who's That Guy?

**Disclaimer! ~ You people are so nice to me, even when I'm lazy and don't write anything for you! D'awwww. Anywho, I do not own Naruto or Bleach. I also do not own the song sung by Khen. [I wish.] It's called Mama by My Chemical Romance. I suggest you look it up because it's an awesome song, though. **

Chapter 8

After living through the night to see another day, despite the growing house leeches she'd collected so far, **Khen** woke up to find that Halibel was already awake. Both Grimmjow and Deidara were asleep on her foldout couch, sharing a blanket. Well.. a better way to put it would be 'tried to share a blanket but Grimmjow stole it.' Kakuzu was nowhere in her direct line of sight, which was just a little bit concerning, and Tobi was curled up on the floor, fast asleep.

She studied the boy, or man?, on the floor and frowned. Taking care of him was a lot more like taking care of a puppy, minus having to take him outside so he can shit. Of course, taking him outside to play would probably be similar. Perhaps she should take him to the park at some point… She was sure he'd enjoy it.

Filing that idea away in her mental filing cabinet for later, she walked past the sleeping men and into the kitchen where Halibel sat.

Halibel looked up at her with a cool gaze. "I took the liberty of making coffee." She said, apparently taking the time to actually speak to her. The woman had a Suduko book in front of her and pen marking her place. Next to it was a cup of coffee.

Khen shrugged. "That's fine. As long as you left me some." Going over to a cabinet, she opened it and plucked a coffee mug off of the shelf before closing it and going over to the coffee maker to find that the pot still had plenty of coffee left. More than she herself would drink anyway.

Halibel nodded and turned her attention back to her Suduko book.

Khen made herself a cup of coffee and sat down across from Halibel, looking over at the puzzle that Halibel was currently working on. After studying it for a moment, she reached across the table and pointed out an empty box. "That one is eight."

Halibel looked up at her, her blonde hair framing her face, and then looked down at the puzzle to find that the box did indeed need an eight in it. She marked the box and murmured a small thanks.

**~~ - SS - ~~**

**An unknown person **slunk through an alleyway, disgusted by what they saw. Whoever this person is, they weren't very nice and they probably never were. Walking out of the alleyway, the person looked both ways, seemingly unsure of what they should do when, in all reality, they were merely checking for any unknown enemies. Not that they expected anyone would be stupid enough to attack them.

The sun had risen only a few hours ago so not too many people were out on the street.

**~~ - SS - ~~**

**Khen**, after finishing her cup of coffee, stood up from her place at the table and went to put her cup of coffee in the sink.

A slam from the other room took her attention away from washing her coffee cup. She turned and saw Kakuzu had come in from the apartment's front door. She frowned and picked up the towel that was hanging nearby.

While drying her hands, she walked into the other room. "How did you get in..?" she questioned while narrowing her eyes at the man.

Kakuzu returned her stare without hesitation nor qualm. "I borrowed your keys."

Khen raised a skeptical eyebrow and held out her right hand, her left hand had found itself a place on her hip with the towel. "Well, Kakuzu, I'd like them back." The man held them out to her and she swiped them from him, putting them in her pocket. "How'd you get them?"

"I just took them from your bedside table." The cloaked form of Kakuzu simply shrugged as if stealing keys were no big deal.

Khen's left eye twitched. "You… You went in my room?" Kakuzu nodded his head as if sneaking into her room were no big deal. "NEVER go in my room!" Khen smacked him in the shoulder with the towel and stormed back into the kitchen to finish washing her cup.

Kakuzu gave her a look that could kill before going and sitting in the chair near the window. Khen's roar had woken up Grimmjow and he sat up, tossing the blanket onto Deidara. "Oooh, you got yelled at." Grimmjow wiggled his blue eyebrows at Kakuzu and Kakuzu just scowled in reply, though it was a lost gesture under his mask.

From the kitchen, a few notes of Khen's singing could be heard.

"_Mama, we all go to Hell~._

_Mama, we all go to Hell~._

_I'm writing this letter and wishing you well~._

_Mama, we all go to Hell~…"_

In all reality, her mother was a nice person who'd probably have a heart attack if she ever heard such words coming from her daughter's mouth but she was safely across the continent, unable to hear the words. She, of course, didn't know that Khen was an assassin but the song was actually quite fitting to Khen's position.

"_And if you would call me your sweetheart,_

_I'd maybe then sing you a song._

_But this shit that I've done with this fuck of a gun_

_You'd cry out your eyes all along!_

_We're damned after all,_

_Through fortune and flame we fall._

_And if you can stay, then I'll show you the way…"_

She sang the words softly to herself, of course, but that didn't keep the guys in the other room for hearing a few choice words. Then again, they pretty much ignored them anyway.

When finished with washing the coffee cup, she dried it off and put it back in its designated place. Walking back into the living room, she studied the four guys, two of which were still asleep. She walked over to Deidara's sleeping form and ripped the blanket off of him with a flourish, nudging him awake. "Get up you lazy bum! We've got a person to kill!" From behind her, Kakuzu cleared his throat. She turned and eyed him warily. "What?"

The Akatsuki member frowned from behind his mask. "About that… Our target, Mr. Clemmons, he's already dead."

Khen raised an eyebrow. "And how do you know this, oh thief of keys?"

The man didn't seem amused but he answered her nonetheless. "I know that, Viper, because I killed him this morning while you all slept. I don't like to wait."

Khen frowned. "You mean to say that you killed him, taking all the fun for yourself?"

Kakuzu nodded. Khen shook her head and simply shrugged. "Hm. In that case sleep away!"

Deidara lay, propped up on one elbow, somewhat confused, but upon hear the word 'sleep' he simply let himself fall back face-first into the pillow and did as the word suggested he do.

Khen looked down at Tobi, curled up on the floor. "I suppose we can just let him sleep too."

Grimmjow grinned at that, sitting up on the couch, legs crossed. "Thank God."

Khen sighed, directing her attention to Kakuzu. "Since you've already killed him, all we have to do is wait a day and then I'll report in to the client who wanted him dead and collect the money."

Kakuzu nodded in understanding and Khen turned to go into her room.

**Grimmjow**, who was still sitting on the couch, looked at Kakuzu and then at Halibel. Neither of the two seemed to talk much nor wanted to talk at the moment so he turned to face the television.

When he turned it on, up came the news and he watched it curiously. It was something about an explosion in a science lab on the outskirts of the town. The newsman reported that it had been a simple mistake made by one of the workers there but he could tell that wasn't true. Seeing as how Halibel seemed busy, and not in the guest room, he went in there to change.

In five minutes, he was ready with a pair of blue jeans and a black shirt with some sort of human symbol that read 'Hetalia'. Seeing as how Grimmjow hadn't really cared what he wanted by the time they'd gotten to the store the shirt was in, he'd let Khen find him a shirt to wear. That didn't mean that, despite his attempt to look like a normal person, he didn't have his ever-present sword with him. He'd just carry it with him in his right hand.

He walked over to the door and cast a look over at Kakuzu. "When I get back, can you let me in?" He received a halfhearted nod from the Akatsuki member and he simply shrugged, exiting the apartment.

A few minutes after Grimmjow left, **Khen** entered the living room and raised an eyebrow. "Where did angry blue kitty go?"

Kakuzu shrugged to signify that either he didn't know or he didn't care. Either way, Khen didn't mind because that meant that it would be quiet around here for a while. She took this opportunity to lie in his spot of the couch and get a short nap in.

**Grimmjow** walked down the side of a road; sure he was going in the right direction. An aerial shot of the science lab had shown the mall he'd visited with Khen the other day so he simply followed the route the two had taken and figured he'd figure it out from there. He wanted to check something.

**~~ - SS - ~~**

**An unknown person** stood not far from the science lab that had graciously received an explosion not long before. The male didn't seem amused by the multitude of people running around but if anyone saw him, they'd most likely ignore him as just a bystander who'd come to watch the commotion. Now, that wasn't so far off.

He stood with his arms crossed as he watched some humans with fire protective suits put the last of the flame out. It was kind of amusing to watch them scuttle around like that.

His spiritual pressure rained down on them but most of them simply assumed it was the air pressure. Only someone trained to notice it, like himself, would see it for what it was.

A small boy, presumably the age of nine or so, approached him. "Mister…?" He lowered his gaze from the smoking lab to the small boy and scowled. "Why do you have pink hair?"

"What? Get lost, it's none of your damn business!"

The boy shrunk back, scared by the ferocity of his voice. He'd had enough people ask him why his hair was pink before and, frankly, it annoyed the hell out of him.

A woman, most likely the boy's mother, took the child by the arm and led him away, not without casting him a dirty look. He simply returned his gaze back to the explosion-struck lab.


End file.
